


To Whom It May Concern

by Eliza_Ridley (Taylor_Devline)



Series: falling is just another way to fly [3]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Because of Reasons(TM), Blame Takemi, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual AU, Explicit Language, Gen, Headcanon, How Do I Tag, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Personas Are Involved More, Self-Indulgent, Tags Are Hard, Tags Will Be Updated As Chapters Go, The tags are messed up because idk, and theory because Atlus will never expand somethings, probably, this is probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2018-11-29 06:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11434668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taylor_Devline/pseuds/Eliza_Ridley
Summary: Bond(n.) Physical restraints used to hold someone or something prisoner.Synonym: shackles, chain, manacles, restraints(n.) A force of feeling that unites people; a shared interest or emotionsSynonym: promise, oath, agreement, vowFor Akira, it felt like both.As a Wild Card, creating bonds with Confidants of the Tarot Major is a requirement. Be as a way to strengthen ones power or simply lift the burden of a heart. A lack of one could be substituted by a blood oath.If the Wild Card does not fulfill these requirements, they shall suffer the consequences





	1. The Other Side of Paradise

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for the feedback and comments from the previous fics (#>~<#), I never thought it would be that popular.  
> (Edit 23 April 2018: The series has been revamped for old and new readers welcome, I highly suggest to read the previous installments beforehand, which to read first is up to your liking.)
> 
> Disclaimers: I don't own anything, all rights goes to Atlus.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bye bye baby blue,
> 
> I wish you could see the wicked truth.

 

**3rd May, Tuesday - Cloudy -**

_**Early af Morning**_

 

He wakes up with a gasp, air enters and leaves his lungs in a single quick succession, it hurts, he thinks distantly. A thin layer of sweat coats most of his body, his clothes and sheet cling uncomfortably on his skin. He raises his hand up to tiredly rub his eyes and lets a shaky sigh escapes from his mouth, it rattles his lungs and ribs. He sits up on the bed and crosses his legs, he rubs his feet with his hands, they feel cold and numb, like a pudding. He glances at the side of the bed and longingly gazes at the discarded blanket on the floor, he's too tired to move to pick it up. His eyes wander to the windows beside him, while pointedly ignores the glaring numbers of _02:18AM_ on the screen of his phone near the pillow.

 

Akira closes his eyes, feeling tired- and something else but equally draining than he ever felt before. The shock from everything - the accusation, the probation, the threat of divorce, the transfer, the whispers, the Metaverse, Arsene, Kamoshida, the fall of Kamoshida's Palace, this stupid rotten society - finally caught up to him and now his body feels heavy like there's something on his shoulders that's not supposed to be there.

 

He opens his eyes and follows the dust motes dance around in the beam of light shining from outside. Then demented, chilling Shadows play tricks at the edges of his eyes, twisting and writhing among the daunting darkness of the attic, wrapping around his being as if trying to suffocate him with their icy grip. He suddenly feels the same feeling that's been simmering, threatening to resurface under his waking consciousness - always there, but never, never actually there, like the monsters in the deep waters of the black sea.

 

He lays back down and his head buzzes with static and various whispers, he folds his hands on top of his stomach and rubs the bumps forming on his skin, counting them carefully while wondering if they'll stay there if the sun comes up. Distantly, he feels his heart ache and wonders where are the monsters actually are.

 

**3rd May, Tuesday - Cloudy -**

_**Early Morning** _

 

With sleeves pulled back at the elbows, Akira set to work his task of washing dirty plates and pans with one ear listening to the news and patrons for any potential target for him to steal hearts from, in other words his cure for boredom at the moment. He still need to check the Mementos as per Igor's request later, and sell that medal he got.

 

His left eye twitches from time to time, almost constantly from holding any sign of pain throughout the whole task, there's an annoying sting at either of his wrists and at his neck whenever he turns his head. He relishes the pleasant and soothing sensation the warm water cause on his cold skin to block out the annoying hindrance.

 

He feels eyes boring a hole at the back of his neck during his chores, he suspects the manager, but whenever he looks at him; the older man sees him like he's seeing a ghost.

 

Just in case, he pokes his own cheek and pinches his skin for good measure, he feels solid. He moves his hand to stroke the fridge, it hums against his skin and radiate warmth that seeps into his skin.

 

"What the hell are you doing, kid?"

 

This is a good fridge, he says, with a tone that any sane person would have directed to an animal. Sakura-san makes a face at him, it's priceless.

 

. . .

 

"Hey, kid."

 

Akira visibly flinches, his hand fortunately catches the newly dried plate in time before it hit the ground. He turns his head in lieu of acknowledgement to the older man, he catches a brief flash of exasperation and irritation before it disappears under the unreadable expression he's been wearing. The somber, almost soft tone startled him, it's usually reserved only for the mystery person on his phone - not him, not the teen with a criminal record and trouble stirred behind him. "isn't that your school?"

 

He blinks and casts a glance at news of Kamoshida's fallout, a picture of Shujin Academy placed at the corner of the screen while an interview with a student wearing a uniform similar to his takes up most of the screen. He stares at it for a few seconds before diverting back to the kitchen sink, he continues his previous task after a small shrug, ignoring at the disappointment Sakura-san shows to his lack of satisfying answer, "Seems it is."

 

**3nd May, Tuesday - Clear -**

_**Evening** _

 

Akira hisses softly at the sight of either of his wrists, a cotton bud dipped with anti-septic in one hand. Cuts upon cuts decorate his wrists in a mock bracelet of dried blood and angry welts, some cuts were shallow and already scabbed but a few were worryingly deep enough to inflict pain in open air, some are probably infected from his ignorance earlier. He inspects his nails and frowns at the dried blood gathered under them, then he raises a hand to check his neck, his frown deepens at the sight of flakes of dried blood when he retrieves his hands. His breath leaves his lungs in a whoosh when his mind went to recall his previous nightmare, he must have cut himself while unconscious.

 

He blinks as soft thuds reaches his ears, the telltale signs of someone ascending the stairs. Akira hurriedly covers the mess of hair pins, tin claps, tangles of yarn and medical supplies with a few opened text books, hiding any evidence of his previous activities save for studying. He pulls his sleeves over his wrists and flips his collar to hide the cut, he picks up a pen to scribble answers on the already solved problems.

 

Sakura-san clears his throat, and Akira stops all of his activities to give the older man his full attention. The man's gaze roams to the small pile of previously abandoned books littered on the corners of the room, he stops at the books for a second too long to be innocuous. Akira narrows his eyes slightly, the older man's suspicion is expected but it still grated his nerves.

 

"I'm closing the shop." Akira nods and Sakura-san presses his lips to a thin line, brows burrowed and his next words comes out if a bit awkwardly, as if unsure how he should proceed. "You should go to sleep, don't want you to collapse from exhaustion on me. I didn't believed your parents when they said you were quite studious. Though, I'm glad those old books get to have new eyes to read." He rubs his neck and mutters something inaudible for Akira's ear, "Well, good night." He says.

 

The manager turns to leave and descends to stairs. Akira faces the desk, intending to work on his homework, he could take care of his cuts later when he finishes.

 

Sakura-san mumbles from the stairs, loud enough for Akira to hear. "There's a first aid kit in the bathroom if you need one." 

 

Akira freezes. He knows that already and he knows there is another one in the bottom cabinet in the kitchen, he knows the one in the kitchen has a burn ointment in it while the other holds more supplies for head injuries because he spends a few nights roaming the shop in boredom.

 

His hand grips the pen tightly, white noise and whispers of everything clogged his ears but the laughter, _laughter_ is so loud, so loud he wants to cover his ears but he knows it's useless because it's inside his head, his heart, his soul.

 

Pity, **they** say, it's pity not care what are **_you_** talking about.

 

It's disgusting.

 

. . .

 

 

He doesn't fall asleep until around midnight, too painfully aware of the Shadows skittering around his vision and ice crawling under his skin like spiders, touching, smothering, choking everything in a cruel and cold grip.

 

It doesn't come to him that his head was quiet night.

 

. . .

 

There's a blotch of ink covering a small part of his answer for number four, it's still readable to him, he hopes Ushimaru-san doesn't mind.

 

**4th May, Wednesday - Clear -**

_**Daytime** _

 

He walks away further from the airsoft shop with a brown paper bag in hand and wallet heavier than a high school student should have, he pointedly ignores the unwavering and slightly disturbing stare of a single amber eye from Caroline as he approaches the busier street. He grits his teeth slightly in agitation, his Persona's are nagging at him to open the bag and see what's gotten the shop owner's pants in a bunch as per their words. He holds a gnawing feeling of curiosity himself, but he learned his lesson with sticking his nose to other people's lives, especially if it involves adults.

 

Curiosity killed the cat after all, and he doesn't thought satisfaction could bring it back this time.

 

Also, he's not opening that bag just to spite them.

 

**4th May, Wednesday - Clear -**

_**Afternoon** _

 

"You're hurt," Takemi-san's eyes scans his wrists after she snatched them at the speed of Okay What Happened I Blinked Akira didn't know she has, "and whoever did your bandage should be fired."

 

He weirdly feels offended by that and pointedly tells her he did it hurriedly and didn't have a choice. She sniffed and pulled out a first aid kit. "Then, you're pre-fired if I ever decide to promote you to assistant." He weakly resists her pull but her grip remains strong and Akira gives up after a second. She clicks her tongue after a quick examine and starts rummaging her cabinets for supplies. "Do you have a excoriation disorder? Don't lie, your nails are have blood under them. How much do you sleep?"

 

She shots questions after questions then drifts into a speech but the rest of it is lost to him as he's more interested in shutting down at his Personas' musing on the languid doctor, full of whys and whos. Like, who was that man from earlier to her, why was he threatening her, why is the clinic so rundown, who did she pissed to end up here, etcetera, etcetera.

 

He shouldn't be involved in her mess.

 

Once is enough.

 

"Hello, earth to guinea pig?"

 

He flinches and snaps out of his thoughts, he pulls back when he finally noticed the lithe hand, snapping a little too close to not be a hazard for his eyes. He frowns at the doctor, and accepts the small cup filled half-way with questionable colored liquid and more questionable contents of the aforementioned liquid.

 

"I need your full attention to do this, guinea pig." Takemi-san sighs and leans back in her seat, she crosses her legs and fetches the clipboard that seems to be always by her side. "I won't do my part of the deal if you don't do yours. "

 

He nods and looks down to observe the thick liquid inside the cup then at his bandaged wrists, he raises his left hand to feel his neck, it's bandaged. He admits the medical supplies have been useful, especially during his fight with Kamoshida. They spare him from using too much energy in healing himself than doing actual damage to the Shadow, he grimaces at the reminder of how viciously sharp that giant knife of it.

 

"I changed the formula as usual, to adjust the data from your previous trial." She says while fiddling with a black-framed glasses in her hands, "I expect the effect will be delayed due to your weight, probably."

 

Akira grimaces and dejectedly stares down the cup. Unsurprisingly, being a shady doctor's guinea pig has its own hazards even if the effects go as fast as it appears, not to mention it makes him faint every time and taste so deplorable. The deal feels unbalanced, but he wouldn't be alive if it weren't for her medicine and he doesn't have any other places to get any without placing himself in a spotlight, he really doesn't need the extra heat to melt the figuratively thin ice he's treading on.

 

And he doesn't want to put his full trust on her- not to mention she's an adult, too paranoid and dreading the day she puts him under the bus if she gets threatened by police or the day she actually poisoned him. The former is very unlikely since she's performing unlicensed experiment, but she still could put the blame on him easily with a fabricated story. He'll have to play along for the sake of his future survival in the Metaverse, he'll worry about her possibly poisoning him with that homemade medicine of hers or ratting him out when he crosses that bridge. His hand went up to adjust his glasses, he blinks when his hand meet thin air and skin. He looks up and finally notices his glasses in the doctor's hands.

 

"I wonder why you need one with a perfect vision?" She hums and smirks at his dumbfounded look, "You know, you cuter than I thought."

 

In a stupid, impulsive action; he tries to hide his obvious blush with the cup by drinking it's contents, a part of him wonders if it's going to slowly poison him. It didn't, but it did left a foul taste inside his mouth for the remaining night, after he fainted for a few hours of course.

 

**5th May, Thursday - Clear -**

_**Morning** _

 

"You don't have to help me this time, kid."

 

Akira shakes his head and tells the older man he doesn't have anything better to do at the time, which was countered by a suggestion for studying. He shrugs and states the current material needs a reference from the teacher. Sakura-san grunts, begrudgingly accepts his answer.

 

He sniffs at the lemon scented smell wafting from the dried plates, then slightly wrinkles his nose at the highly acrid smell from a patron's ordered brew, unused at the sudden assault. The patron laughs lightly, clearly caught sight of his slight discomfort. "Not very used to smell, are you?" The patron  Hey, is he a new assistant? Are employing now, Sojiro?" 

 

"Ah, no. He's-" Sakura-san shots him a look, expecting him to answer. Akira shrugs lightly and resumes drying plates and cups, and the older man grunts. "-sort of my ward, I guess."

 

"Really? He looks like a real barista, that apron really suited him."

 

The manager's lips quirked, "I guess so."

 

**5th May, Thursday - Clear -**

_**Daytime** _

 

From that moment where Sakura-san first sees his face, Akira thinks he hates him and wouldn’t do anything to get involved in his shitshow. Who would want to harbor a good-for-nothing kid with a criminal record attached to his name in his shop? It’s bad for business if anyone finds out, Akia is certain the manager doesn’t want that, it’s why he’s all hush-hush and the neighbours could only spread factless rumors and half-truths of _oh, he’s my ward_ or _he’s just a part timer;_ and not _he’s a brat with a criminal record and he’s here because of he’s on probation and I just happened to agree to be his guardian since his parents doesn’t trust him to live on his own, but hey I got paid for it._

 

From that reason Akira does his best to stay on the manager’s good side or at least the neutral a.k.a. I-don’t-give-a-shit-about-you side. So, he does what he told, he does his chores, assigned and extra; he washes his own clothes, never stays long enough to smell or taste the brewing pot in the morning because it’s a madeleine of broken plates and musty pages, he’s only there to give an allusion of someone living in the attic. A phantom in the shop, only lurks when the lights are of, the seats are empty and there’s no one else besides shadows and ghost-quiet silence.

 

From that, he always thinks the manager always acts out of politeness with a pinch of irritation and a pound of tolerance, if it doesn’t go out that way, then Akira thinks it’s pity and Akira prefers the former.

 

He doesn’t how long time has pass since then, but he knows a sincere smile when he sees one.

 

Akira lets his hands hover limply where they had been holding dirty plates, blinking at the manger placing the aforementioned plates in the kitchen sink. The last remnants of the shop’s patrons have left, it’s a slow day; nobody came except the regulars and a few elders, but it’s still quite an impressive mess to clean up for a single old person like Sakura-san, at least he thinks he’s old enough to be called old.

 

How old is a person needs to be called old?

 

"You should go out and have fun, kid.” Sakura-san says and turns the tap to fill the sink with warm water, the smile’s is still there. “I'll finish those plates- why are you staring at me like that?” aaannd it’s gone, “don't you have friends to bond with?" Sakura-san's gaze is unwavering, expecting him to answer.

 

Akira flinches and casts his eyes down, shifting his weight from foot to foot and hands fiddle with the hem of the apron. Honestly, Akira doesn't exactly know how to answer that one. What he used to call friends ended up leaving him because of his record, he was kind of expecting it, unsurprisingly. Nobody stick to him longer than two days, they'll drift apart to hang out with another, then they'll come back a few weeks later to ask for help with homework or an assignment and then they hang out again for a little while, after that they'll leave again. Rinse and repeat.

 

He smothers the fire, the anger from old coals and withering fuel and locks them away before it shows itself on his carefully constructed poker face, reminding himself there is no use to brood over it. He guesses it was nice to have company, even if it's only for a moment.

 

He figures he left Sakura-san in silence longer than necessary, judging by the raised eyebrow and frowning lips, deepening by the second. He settles with a shrug and avoids Sakura-san’s gaze.

 

Sakura-san opens his mouth to retort probably, but he stops himself at the last second, snapping his mouth shut with a click. "Oh," He says, as though he becomes aware of something he previously didn't. "I guess that makes sense." He looks away with a guilty look, "sorry, I shouldn't have assumed."

 

Akira blinks, completely caught of guard by the unexpected apology. He mentally shakes his head and then shrugs a shoulder. He tells Sakura-san it’s fine, he is used to it and he would like to go if the elder doesn't mind, to do a few errands he planned. Mainly checking out this Mementos, but he leaves that part from the manager.

 

Sakura-san nods and fishes something out of his pocket, "alright, here." Akira catches the small flying projectile with little effort, having practiced his eye-coordination for hours before. He raises an eyebrow when the object revealed to be a key. "I'm tired of waiting for you coming back so late,” He huffs, glancing at something behind him, “but this doesn't mean your curfew would be extended and I will know if you didn't come back in time, got that?"

 

He numbly nods but doesn't say anything for a while and Sakura-san sighs at him, "You're not what your parents said, almost the opposite in fact. Guess the phrase 'Don't judge a book by its cover' applied to people as well," He muses. "I admit you're a good kid, and I trust you have enough common sense to make your own choices."

 

Oh.

 

Sakura-san chuckles, similar that small unexpected laugh when you see something out of the ordinary, "'oh' he said, and all you could say is 'oh'. You're such a weird kid, good but weird."

 

. . .

 

There is a tug at his heart, the good one, the one where he always feels when around Grandma and he feels something gave, like a glass breaking or a chain collapsing on itself. For some reason it makes him happy and it didn’t make him spiraling down to memories of broken glass and locked doors. He feels his steps bounce a little bit higher and the world comes to a focus like a dearly treasured photo of colorful images.

 

It adds a coal to the old embers of dying flames he doesn’t know it’s still dying after all this years, the flames spark and burst into a weak fire that doesn’t burn or charred his heart like the other flames, this one, Akira likes to imagine, has a color of pleasant sunsets and cozy winter fires.

 

It's warm, this feeling.

 

Then he hears they, **they** , **_they_** whisper and buzz, clouding his mind and clogging his ears with taunts and jeers because **_you_ know it won’t last**   and he believes them.

 

But his heart is, unfortunately, an arsonist. It takes delight in building bridges and burning them down later to watch it all just burn under his feet and let him fall, down, down, down to a void of solitude and isolation, where he could say hello to his lament and grief.

 

Akira lets it all happen because a flaming torch would burn out like a candle does, it'll end eventually.

 

_How poetic._

 

**5th May, Thursday - Clear -**

**_Evening_ **

 

**V**

**The Hierophant**

 

The kid isn't a lost cause, maybe, he could be wrong. The smile- even if it’s odd, looked too much like a smirk and awkwardly crooked, like a knowing smile, as if he knows something he doesn’t or has a different meaning than what it seems but Sojiro knows that isn’t the case. The one the kid showed earlier had some sincere happiness and thankful. He's seen thousands of smiles, each held a different hidden agenda, most was out of sheer politeness, some held malice, pleased whenever they first tasted his coffee and sincere happiness whether the reason, it’s rare.

 

God, that kid reminds him so much of his old self.

 

So full of love, yet hesitant to give. Just a big bundle of trust issues, paranoia and rough facade that reminds him his regret holding that love to Wakaba.

 

He wonders how was the kid's life before, to make his first instinct to a show of trust was thankful.

 

And those cuts.

 

He really can't handle another one. He may not care about the kid as much as Futaba, but he can't let that happen.

 

Not again, not while he’s around.

 

"Sojiro?"

 

The man blinks and looks up to a concerned pair of mauve eyes, he places down the cold mug of tea back on the table with a raised eyebrow towards the plate in front of the other. "What's wrong, is the curry too spicy?"

 

"What?” Futaba scoffs, flopping back down on her seat. “No, it's perfect like always."

 

"Okay,” He nods and gaze wistfully at his mug, there’s goes a perfect tea, even if it does taste slightly disgusting. He really, really hates the No Coffee During Dinner rule Futaba sets up, but she doesn't like it when he stays up really late with her while she deals with her erratic sleeping pattern and goes to work as early as the earliest bird and Sojiro hates not knowing for sure if the girl gets enough sleep or not, or the food he left for her to eat wasn’t eaten and left to rot in her room. “That's good then." He really needs to clean that room of hers, but he doesn’t want to break the trust he built so hard.

 

At least the kid has good cleaning habits, though the lack of personal belongings is a bit concerning.

 

"Is something wrong, Sojiro?"

 

"Hmm?" Sojiro hums and looks up to watch her pout and crosses her arms.

 

"You were frowning and your eyebrows were all scrunched up like old man wrinkles ,” She says while wrinkling her own face with her hands, “and you had that 'lost in the memories' look, also you were looking at me funny earlier. That must mean you met someone like me, did you?"

 

Sojiro guffaws, "Wh-what?”

 

“Don’t play fool at me,” Futaba declares, she drops her fork to point at him. “I see through your trickery and lies, I see the truth!”

 

Sojiro sighs and smiles at her, “Huh,” he huffs and picks up his mug to take a sip, the tea taste like cardboard, disgusting. “Guess you could say that."

 

"So, who was that boy over the phone?"

 

He chokes, spluttering tea all over his dinner and the table, "w-what boy?” He demands, “what are you talking about?"

 

"When I called you yesterday there was another voice, I figured it was a boy since it's a bit low, though it's so soft they might be a girl, you can't assume genders by their voice, ya know?” Oh no, here comes the conclusion. ” Wait, is this the person that reminded you of me?"

 

She’s rambling and when she’s rambling it’s hard to convince her otherwise, and she’s usually jumping to conclusion, regretfully the right conclusions. "I didn't say that." Play the fool, Sojiro. There is no way he’s letting that trouble magnet get close to his little girl, even if said girl will probably be one if he set her loose. That’s one silver lining with her NEET habits.

 

"So, is he like me?"

 

All protests of _h_ _e's bad influence_ , _he’s a boy and boys are stupid_ and _what if I'm wrong, what if he's not good as I said_ _earlier_ went out of the window when he catches the somber look on the girl.

 

"I read something on the net about how another person like me can help, like, we could talk about it and I don't know, #relatable? Sorry, shouldn't joke about that. I-look, okay, look. I know this does sounds stupid, but this is like, my only chance of fixing-" She gestures to herself, "-this with like, more than fifteen percent chance that it'll work. Please?"

 

"He's a boy,” Nice try, the eyes will probably work on certain situations but not this one. ”and boys are monsters and stupid. I know because I was one."

 

The eyes drop into a mild, and admittedly adorable glare, "he's not a boy, he's my key item!"

 

"Futaba."

 

"Sojiro."

 

He knows he can't win a stare-off against the girl, probably because she spent her time staring unblinkingly at a bright screen for hours. He’s old but he’s not stupid, he knows what she’s doing at night in her bedroom or in the living room when he’s out. Those crumbs of chips on the couch isn’t hard to miss when it’s colored that sickening yellow. Sheesh, what do those factories put in to make that color so yellow and great, now going to start worrying about her health.

 

Sojiro blinks and groans when Futaba lets out a small cheer and does a little victory dance, he sighs. "Fine,” He shoots her a look, “but before you ask for his help, give me two months-"

 

"What!” Futaba protests, “that's too long! A month."

 

"I need to make sure I'm not wrong.” He says and looks down at their plates, avoiding her slightly angered gaze,“ What if he isn't what we thought? What if I'm wrong?"

 

"What if it's too late for me?"

 

Sojiro freezes at her words, dread and terror and _nonononono_ grips his heart like reaper squeezing the life out of a mortal instead of reaping them mercifully as promised. Mouth hanging open and eyes wide in silent horror, he chokes out, "Futaba-"

 

"No, no no no. Sorry,” She apologizes and sits- squats back on her chair from she had been kneeling to reach him, “forget about what I just said.” She takes a shaky breath, her fingers drums the table in erratic rhythm then looks at him in the eyes. “Can't you just- I need-“ She takes another deep breath, “please, a month?"

 

He lets out a breath he doesn’t know he was holding, he raises a hand to tiredly rub his forehead, he feels older. "Okay," he says slowly, after a moment of silence. "Okay,” He raises his head and looks at Futaba with somber eyes, “what can I do to help?"

 

Futaba smiles, the smile that’s bordering on a grin when she’s really happy or about to laugh and Sojiro’s looking forward to the day he sees it often. "Thank you, Sojiro.” She says and kneels on her chair, she extends her both of her arms then decides to extends one to pat him on the head. She used to do that when she can’t reach him to hug him, usually any part of his body, it’s a promise they’ll hug later. “Now, do you have his number?"

 

"What? Didn't I say you can't talk-"

 

"I won't-I won't, promise." She says with a roll of her eyes. Teenagers. "I just need it to,” She trails off, hands gesturing at nothing and eyes wandering around the room, “pyche myself so I won't chicken out by the time the month's out."

 

He sighs, already feeling a headache coming, he really wants coffee now, "okay,” he grumbles, “but I don't have it now-"

 

"Then ask him now.” It's nine-ten, I mean, he's probably still up. So try to call him on that payphone or something."

 

"Alright."

 

. . . .

 

There was a barely audible, small yawn,  _"Hello?"_

 

Futaba scoffs over his shoulders, "Is he asleep at this hour? He must be weaker than I thought, a lvl11 probably."

 

"Futaba!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is from Glass Animal's song 'The Other Side of Paradise'


	2. We Shall Sail Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloaked in folds of midnight waters
> 
> Side by side, we sons and daughters
> 
> We set forth for no king's orders,
> 
> But we'll sail together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For new readers and old, first and for most, I apologize for the wait, life happened and i lost my notes but i manage to scramble some things with memory.
> 
> The series as a whole has been revamped with new format and writing style, a lot of things have changed and added so i suggest read the whole thing from the start to make sense of what going on here.
> 
> anyway, enjoy.

**3rd May, Tuesday – Clear –**

**_Afternoon_ **

**VI**

**The Lovers**

 

_Begin Navigation. . ._

_. . . ._

“Ow, ow, _ow_.”

 

Ann rolls her eyes and pokes Skull’s shoulder with certainly necessary force, “stop whining-” She slaps his hand away from the newly bandaged cut, “-don’t touch that, I worked hard on that.”

 

“You literally just slapped a tacky bandage on it,” Skull grumbles then lets out a small whining noise from the back of his throat, “can’t you guys use you magic to heal me or something?”

 

“We can’t waste too much energy on simple cuts like that, Skull.” Mona pipes in, “I nearly got burned a while ago and you don’t see whining.” He proves it by crossing his short arms across his chest, showing patches of mildly singed fur at a few places.

 

“Yeah, because An-Panther saved you.” Skull says and slouches back on his seat while his arms crossed defiantly across his chest, “if she’s any second late you’ll be whining as much as I am.”

 

Ann flinches at his comment, “please don’t remind me.” She says softly and Skull and Mona visibly deflate, any intentions to rile each other drift away like any clouds in the sky. She returns to her seat, a chair away besides Skull and folds her hand neatly atop of her legs, her skin stings where cuts decorated it with shallow lines of red, like the color of her outfit. “You two wouldn’t be hurt if I cast spells faster-”

 

“Whoa, Panther, it’s okay.” Skull lays a hand on top of hers and Ann glances down where jagged scars hide underneath the yellow gloves, she remembers how red stains the bright yellow of the gloves, how it stains her pink ones, how it blends perfectly with her outfit. Skull slightly squeezes her hand and gives her a smile,  “we’re alive, nobody got hurt any worse than this.”

 

Mona hums and jumps down from his seat across them, “you might not be as fast as me, but your spells are way stronger than mine.”

 

“Yeah,” Skull beams, “remember you one-shot that Shadow a while ago, that was rad as hell!”

 

Ann smiles, feeling their enthusiasm influencing her dark mood, it reminds her of Shiho. “Thanks,” then a cold breeze brushes her cheek and her smile immediately dissolve into a wary frown as she casts their surroundings a quick glance, one hand ghosting over her whip and mind whirling with spells and outcomes. Are they here?

 

“It’s okay, Panther.” Mona waves his hands above his head, as if to catch her attention, “this is a safe zone, there’re shouldn’t be any Shadows lurking on this side of the platform.”

 

Skull nods, “yeah, you shouldn’t worry this much.”

 

Panther shakes her head and tries to loosen her coiled muscles, it works a little. “It’s not them I’m worried about, It’s-” She pauses and lowers her head, Carmen encourages her with a small nudge and a promise. “I don’t like this,” Panther chews on her lip and gives a quick glance at her companions. The eerie red light from who knows where casts ominously against Skull’s mask and Mona’s giant eyes, it clashes yet blends perfectly with the blues and blacks of the firsts levels of the Mementos, it also makes it hard for them to see Shadows. A single ambush is enough to set her on the edge of her seat during the entierity of the drive. “it feels wrong.”

 

“Huh?” Ann spots Skulls eyes widen through his mask, he brings up a hand to scratch his head, “what do you mean?”

 

“You know what I mean, this name borrowing thing.”

 

Mona gives her an apologetic frown and shakes his over-sized head, “forgive me, Panther if this makes you uncomfortable, but it’s the only way we could go deeper in the Mementos.”

 

“But stealing someone’s identity?” She wrings her hands together, she could feel her fingers touch skin despite being covered in leather gloves. Her thief outfit is still a mystery to her and mostly everything that happens in the Metaverse and Mona could only answer so much. She lets her frown deepens, “aren’t we supposed to be the good guys?”

 

Skull lets out a noise from the back of his throat as Mona winces, “we’re already stealing stuff from people before,” Skull gives her a questioning look, ”why would this make any different?”

 

Panther huffs, “yeah, from bad guys. I- I feel really bad for this Phantom guy, I mean, he did just made Kamoshida admit his crimes.” She sighs and leans back on her seat, “and here we’re paying him back by stealing his name.”

 

“Oh,” Skull trails off, “huh, good point.” He hums, a slight grimace on his face, “well, now I’m starting to feel bad for the guy.”

 

“There’s no need to feel guilty,” Mona nods and gives her a reassuring smile, “but we’re doing him a favor anyway.” He places a paw on his chest, “we’re raising his popularity, you see the more the public believes in him, the stronger he is; and as a bonus, the deeper we could go inside the Mementos.” He clenches both of his hands and places one at his head, ”and hopefully find my memories.”

 

“Right, and didn’t you mentioned he goes to our school?” Skull grins and hits his open palm with a fist, “we could ask him to join us.” He lets out a small laugh, “it’ll be easy since he goes to our school.”

 

“I think not,”Ann frowns, “we still need to convince him to join and the school has loads of people, it’ll take months to even make a sizable dent.” She tilts her head down, letting out a small hum. She turns her head to Mona, “well, that depends how distinct he looks like, Mona?” She asks.

 

Mona scrunches his eyeridge together for a quick moment before settling to a neutral face, “well, he has black hair, and-” He pauses and cringes as he lowers his head, “-and that’s about it.”

 

“What?!” Skull exclaims and stomps his foot, “are you serious?”

 

“Can’t you track him?” Panther chimes in, before those two boys buttheads for five minutes straight. “You know like you tracked us down before?”

 

Mona frowns and places both of his hands on his hips, “No, he’s actively concealing himself, but if he’s using his Persona I can tell right away.” He places a paw on his chin, a thoughtful frown on his mouth, “however,”

 

“Go on.” Ann pursues, waving one hand as if to encourage him.

 

Mona shakes his head, “no, nothing. It must’ve been my imagination.”

 

Skull frowns and glowers at Mona, “oi, what happens to ‘no secrets’?”

 

The cat bristles and crosses his arms across his chest, “it’s not something someone like you would understand.” He huffs.

 

Skull shoots up from his seat with both of his fists curled up tightly, he raises one arm, “is that a death wish from you, ca-” He winces and hunches forward with one arm cradling the right side of his ribs. “Shit, that hurts a lot.”

 

Ann hurries to his side with a concerned frown on her lips, lightly laying one hand on his shoulder. “I thought I healed that completely, is it cracked or something?”

 

“No,” Skull slowly lowers his body back to his seat, very mindful of his wounds.”I know a broken bone when I feel one, it’s probably a bruise or something.” Ann grimaces at the reminder of his leg and lets her gaze drift to the colourful bandages stick haphazardly on his face and ruffled clothes, proof they didn’t leave the floor unscathed. She finds it odd their outfits doesn’t bear a single tear, but blood stains the material for a while before disappearing completely.

 

“Should we,” Ann starts slowly, keeping one eye trained on Mona. He frowns for a moment and nods his head, she feels a little bad at how disheartened Mona looked, she would want to find her memories as fast as possible if she’s in his shoes- paw? as well. “Go back?”

 

“No way!” Skull says, a light glare directed at her. “We have a few hours to kill, we can take those few guys-”

 

Ann steels her eyes and stands straighter, she gives Skull a firm look, “no, we can’t.” She sighs and flops back on her seat, exhaustion seeps into her bones like water to sponge, the bits of energy from adrenaline left her dry and tired. “There’s too many enemies and not a lot of them are easy pickings.”

 

Skull snaps his mouth shut with a click as he winces, his hand ghost above his side, “okay, you have a point.”

 

She groans, “it’s like we missed some kind of power up or something.”

 

“Missed a bunch of boss fights is more accurate actually.”

 

A burst of mirth bubbles and leaves her throat in a short bark of laughter, it’s gone as soon as it pass, but still manages to leave a smile on her face. Leave it to Ryuji to make a video game reference, “oh my god, we totally did.”

 

“Right?” Skull says, “we never found that Archangel guy again and we only beat that guy on the toilet- well, you since you’re the one who put ‘em through hell.”

 

“Literally,” Mona pipes in.

 

Ann grins, “goddamned you’re right.”

 

“Skull, you should follow Lady Panther’s example.”

 

Skull scowls, “what’s that supposed to-” He stops himself then a grin slowly forms on his lips, “y’know what? I’m gonna show you, no-” He holds up his fist, “ _we’re_ gonna show the world how strong we’re gonna be.”

 

Mona mirrors Skull’s expression and leaps up to stand between them, his own curled paw rests besides Skull’s. Ann feels her own lips forming a similar grin, she holds up her own fist against theirs, “it’s a promise then.” She says. “To get stronger.” For the weak. For herself. For Shiho.

 

Skull nods, “together.”

 

Their fists bump lightly against each other.

 

. . . .

 

“Let’s go home.”

 

_You have returned to the real world, welcome back_

 

**5th May, Thursday – Clear –**

**_Daytime_ **

 

The air smells like a somewhat perfect mix of conditioned air and foul body odor, it’s a good thing the latter is drowned by the other, otherwise Ann would bring a clothespin every time she goes here. She shuffles closer to the pillar behind her, narrowly dodging an ignorant bystander passing by, she shoots a mild glare at the retreating back and huffs while crossing her arms.

 

“Finally,” Ann mumbles and waves at the general direction she’s certain saw a mop of blond hair among the sea of black, her sudden movement jolts her bag and Morgana inside it. She hears the aforementioned cat yowls and soon enough his head pops out of her bag, a pained look on his face.

 

“Careful!” He mewls, the rest of his body fidgets inside the bag. “Do you even need all of this make-up?” He asks, wincing at something. “You already possess a magnificent natural beauty, surely you don’t want it to be covered with artificial coloring?”

 

Ann turns her head to huff at him, a frown on her lips. “Yeah, but it’s for emergencies and sometimes there’s photo shots with make-up I’m allergic to.” She lifts her head to scan the crowd once more, “besides, aren’t you the one telling us to be always prepared?”

 

Morgana shrinks slightly, “well, yeah,” he trails off and shakes his head. “But there’s a thing called paranoia.”

 

Ann scoffs, “it’s not paranoia.”

 

“Yes, yes it is.”

 

“No, no it’s not.”

 

“And you said we argue a lot,” Ryuji approaches them with hands on his hips and posture slouched as usual, he greets her with a salute and a scowl at the extra ten pound weight in her bag.

 

“At least I don’t do it every five minutes.” Ann retorts and dumps Morgana into Ryuji’s awaiting bag, some of her make-up supplies fall as well, but they’re decoys, the real ones are in the small pocket of her bag. There is no way she’s wearing make-up that has a chance of face first of cat butt and has cat hair, ugh.

 

“Get in, you stupid cat!”

 

“Make me!”

 

She hears Ryuji squawks, “You- you bit me, Ann!”

 

“Lady Ann, help me!”

 

Ann sighs with one hand raised to rub her forehead. Why can’t they have a reliable leader, one who could keep those two in check and actually treat them equally. Morgana is a decent leader, but not a good one. There’s too many holes; he underestimates things too quickly, he keeps too many secrets secret, he occasionally doubts at either himself or Ryuji and he’s biased towards Ryuji.

 

There’s too many holes on the foundation to actually stand on.

 

As much as she wants to say these things to Morgana, she’s nothing better. She hesitates too much, she panics quickly. She’s not a good leader.

 

Ryuji might be able to be good leader, but his tendencies to do things with brute force and lack of planning kicks him out of the potential leader spot and to a tank spot.

 

Those RPG games she and Shiho used to play has its perks.

 

Ann watches the other teen struggles to wrestle the cat in his bag with one eye while she digs her bag for a magazine she brought with her. “Ugh, can you try to shed your fur less, Morgana?” She grimaces at the sight of her old favorite bag, “you’re ruining every bag I’m using.”

 

Morgana sneers at Ryuji who has him in a headlock, “it’s the stress from dealing with a monkey every other week.” He yelps as Ryuji shoves head inside the bag and zips it close. It doesn’t work since Mona was able to slip a paw between and jumps on top of Ryuji’s head.

 

“Gah!” Ryuji drops his bag and growls as he snatches Morgana by the waist, “you need to be in the bag or we’re gonna get-”

 

“Is there a problem?”

 

He groans, “-in trouble.”

 

The security officer spares a glance at Morgana, “if you’re bringing a pet its should be inside a bag, ma’am.”

 

Ann lets out a small laugh and plasters her award-winning smile, one hand dismissively waved at the imposing authority while her eyes shot a look at the scrambling idiots, “will do, sir. Morgana here is just very fussy and very picky.” She glances at her watch and starts to shove Ryuji by his shoulders with the aforementioned cat in tow, “actually, our train is going to arrive any minute now, thank you for the concern.”

 

Ann lets Ryuji go once they stand at the platform, she looks down at Morgana and shoots a exasperated look at him. “You need to be more careful, Mona. We’re already treading on thin ice with our rep, one wrong move then our team will end before we even got a second target.”

 

Morgana shrinks inside, “my apologies, Lady Ann, but do I have to stay inside Ryuji’s bag all day?”

 

Ann rolls her eyes and lets out a resigned sigh, she thrusts her open bag in front of her, “you can get inside my-” She doesn’t even get to finish before Morgana already sits snugly inside her bag as an extra ten pound weight. She feels her brow ticked in annoyance as Carmen lets out a husky tut that reminds her of crackles of fire and the velvet silks, she huffs and switches her bag for Ryuji. The bag is old and smells like sweat and deodorant with a dash of machismo, at least the color matches her leggings. “It’s still your turn carry him.” She says as she walks past him and boards the train.

 

“H-hey, don’t leave me with the cat!”

 

. . . .

 

**VII**

**The Chariot**

 

“Ta-da!”

 

Ryuji raises one eyebrow as he watches Ann spreads her arms with a big smile on her face in front of a little, old restaurant. He glance down at the side of the door there’s even the typical little, black chalkboard sign standing with the restaurant’s special written on it, the frame looks worn down but the board itself looked polished and well cared. Healthy plants scatter around the front are maybe the only thing looking new, besides that everything really old, Ryuji wouldn’t be surprised if the owner is as old as the restaurant itself.

 

Ann waves the rolled magazine in her hand, the one she showed him earlier about a curry made in heaven or something, Ryuji isn’t sure, he was too busy winning the staring contest with Mona. Ann walks behind him and places both hands on his shoulder, her wide grin still plastered on her lips, “what are you standing there, c’mon!” Ryuji hears the bag he’s been totting around hit the side the of door as Ann ushers him inside, briefly and distantly he thinks Morgana is oddly quiet, but he’ll take any moment without that annoying mewling in a heartbeat.

 

A bell jingles and the world shifts colour and blinds his eyes for a small moment before they returned to normal, then the smell of coffee and something sharp- spicy? hits his nose the moment he enters the tiny shop, it reminds him of Mom.

 

A middle age man wearing a dark colored apron stands behind the counter, he smiles and nods in greeting, the glasses perched on his nose slightly slides down. “Welcome,” He raises his hand to fix his glasses and eyes them with an amused look, “oh, I haven’t seen you around before.”

 

“We’re new,” Ann smiles and slides onto one of the stools with Ryuji tailing behind, he sets Morgana down on the empty stool nest to him. The place seems empty besides the elderly couple at the corner booth, he figures it wouldn’t piss anyone. He sees Ann leaning forward and folding her arms on top of the counter, no doubt working her charms to convince them to let the cat stay. Morgana turns out, to be one who’s okay with petty revenge- actually scratch that, the three of them are okay with revenges, just not okay with killing or torturing. ”-celebrating something, so I wanted something special and I thought why not here, I’ve heard the curry here taste heavenly, as well as the coffee.”

 

Ryuji involuntary lets out a choked sound, “ugh, I’ve tasted coffee before they’re so bitter, how can anyone like that?”

 

The man shoots him a pointed look, a deep frown curled his lips and wrinkles, “your tongue will change overtime, kid.” He briefly closes his eyes, reminiscing old times, probably. “I used to hate coffee when I was your age, good times.”

 

The old woman from before giggles loudly, making them all turn their heads at her, “oh, good times indeed,” She sighs wistfully, “you were such a charmer back then, and handsome to boot.”

 

The old man across her rolls his eyes and huffs, “Chiyako.” He warns.

 

Chiyako-san dismissively flaps her hand, “oh, don’t be jealous, Daichi. I choose you in end after all.” The old man- Daichi? Lets out a gruff noise and looks away, a light red colored his cheeks. She laughs and rest her cheek on her propped hand, “oh, Sojiro is confident for sure, but your cuter when you fluster that easily.”

 

“Shut up!”

 

The manager, Sojiro-san Ryuji guesses- clears his throat, “don’t bother, those two flirt with each other constantly. ”He shakes his head as he puts away the cloth in his hand, he turns his head at Ann with a warm smile on his lips, “so, what can I get you, miss?”

 

Ann offers on of her charming smiles as she tilts her head, her hair bounce slightly at the movement and tickles his cheek, “It’s Ann, Ann Takamaki.”

 

The man nods, “Ann-chan, what a lovely name.” The warm smile drops from his face instantly he sets his eyes on Ryuji, “what about you, kid?”

 

Ryuji feels his mouth curling down, but quickly holds it up into a somewhat neutral face, “Ryuji Sakamoto.”

 

The manager makes a noncommittal sound from the back of throat, “Sojiro Sakura, proud owner of LeBlanc at your service. I prefer you call me by ‘Boss’.”

 

“Do you work here by yourself?” Ryuji asks, “aren’t you a bit too old to manage a shop by yourself?”

 

“Ryuji, that’s rude!”

 

“No, it’s okay.” He makes a dismissive gesture with his hand, “I get the question a lot.”

 

“Oh, you don’t need to worry that old charmer, boy.” Chiyoko chimes in, “he recently got a part-timer working for him,” she lets out a small laugh and turns her head back at the old man across her, ”that boy is so quiet and so polite, he reminds me of you, Daichi.”

 

Daichi-san huffs and cross his arms, “too quiet I say, that boy may be a phantom for all I know.”

 

“Oh, shush, you’re just jealous.”

 

“We’re married!”

 

The manager sighs loudly, ”alright, I think that’s enough stalling.” He says, ”I figure you two are here for my curry instead of a chat or listening to those two gossiping.” He mumbles the three last one with a slight annoyed tone.

 

Ann nods, still smiling, sheesh doesn’t her cheeks hurt by now? “Okay, I’ll have the house blend, please”

 

“Tea, I guess.” Ryuji says. “and, uh, I hope you, um.” He nods his head towards Morgana.

 

“Oh, that’s right.” Ann claps her hands and plasters one of the apologetic smiles on her lips, “we brought a cat with us, is it okay for him to stay?”

 

“A cat?” Sakura-san raises an eyebrow, glancing around the shop with a small glare, “are you sure you brought one? It better stay out of the kitchen and the counters.”

 

“Yeah, he’s right-” Ryuji reach out to the bag besides him, hooking one finger to open the bag wider, hopefully a signal the cat understands it’s time to pop out his stupid head out, “here.”

 

The manager peers over his glasses, then his eyes narrowed and his mouth formed into a thin line, “I don’t see a cat, are you kids trying to pull a prank on me?”

 

“What are-” Ryuji glances down and sure enough there’s no living sign of Morgana besides the cat hair he’s been shedding pretty much everywhere, “HA?!” He shoot up from his seat, peering under the stools and around the shop, “where the heck did he run of to?”

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Ann says with a small glare and Ryuji wasn’t looking at her at all. Okay, maybe a bit, but it was a quick glance! “Go look for him! Knowing Morgana, he can’t be that far gone.”

 

“What? Why does it have to be me?”

 

Ann places a hand on her hips, ”you were the one who’s holding and it’s your turn to take care of him.” For a quick second, a _really_ quick second, the blink and you’ll miss quick second, Carmen flickers into view behind Ann with blue and red flames and probably a promise of punishment hovering behind them like the Reaper itself.

 

Ryuji gulps and speed-walks out the shop, “right on it, ma’am.” He calls and closes with a small jingle, he hears Ann denying his status as her boyfriend with a loud scoff and Ryuji thinks she couldn’t have done it better.

 

He slows down in front of the recycling shop, he turns his head to the left where they left the station, but somehow- His heart- Captain Kidd tells him to go left, where the small streets meet the road, where the river meets the ocean. With creaking sails and distant storms drifts over his head, Kidd whispers, Go. The Lost Magician is there, with-

 

Ryuji blinks and there he sees a guy his age crouching just a little ways in front of him, it’s the guy from under the awning, the broken recorder.

 

Morgana sits there, being petted by the guy.

 

With teeth gritted and annoyance bubbling in his chest at the sight of the stupid cat, he marches towards them. Typical, that cat just had to go off on his own, making them all worried but it turns out he’s seeking attention like the attention hog he is. He snatches Morgana at his collar as soon as he got close enough, prompting a yowl from him, he brings the cat level with his face, “There you are! What do you think you’re doing?” He snarls.

 

Morgana mewls and swipes at his face, he missed, hah. “Ryuji-”

 

Is he yours? Ryuji turns his head towards the guy, lowering Morgana. The dude stands to his full height, the keys in his hands chimes loudly throughout the quiet air. The guy’s slouching, Ryuji notes, and there’s something about how his lips are quirked up just a bit that strikes him the guy’s happy or something.

 

“Uh, yeah.” Ryuji says, numbly and looks down at Morgana, who at some point escaped from his grip and now hides half of his face behind Ryuji’s leg. “thanks for taking care of him, I guess.”

 

The stranger shakes his head, saying he didn’t do anything, the cat just came up to him. He tilts his head and curls one end of his lips, he says he’s glad Morgana found his home and bends down to pick up a plastic bag filled up with something clunky. He slightly bows, keeping his head low and eyes invisible. His lips part,  “Good-“

 

“There you guys are!” Ryuji looks over his shoulder to see Ann jogging towards them with a small frown on her face, she slowed down once she stands in front of them, one hip cocked to the side, “What took you so long? Morgana couldn’t have gone that far.”

 

Ryuji suppresses the urge to scowl, he settles with a mild annoyed look, “It wasn’t me! There was this guy and he’s-” Gone. Great. “Okay but Morgana was totally basking in his attention.” Ryuji glances down at Morgana, “tell her, cat!”

 

Morgana bristles, “no, I wasn’t. He’s just- he interest me, that’s all. He smells familiar, maybe he’s from my-” Past, Ryuji guesses but he’s not sure. Morgana sniffs the air, tail swishing back and forth like those old-timey grandfather clocks. “-maybe I’m just imagining things.”

 

Ann frowns she glances around, gripping her elbow with her other hand, “maybe you smelled something weird from the garbage there. I mean, we’re pretty close,” she trails off and then shakes her head, a small smile forms on her lips, “we’ll find your memories, Mona, but first let’s go back, I’m starving.” She places her finger in front of her lips, “also, I managed to score some tuna for you, Morgana.”

 

The cat immediately beams, “Tuna!” Ann nods and the cat trots behind her like a good cat everyone thinks he is. Hah, no.

 

Ryuji sighs and rolls his eyes, he shoves his hands inside his pockets as he scuffs the pavement with his shoes. Warily, he looks over his shoulder where the stranger once stood. He finds it unsettling his mind can’t help but think of a phantom whenever he sees the guy.

 

“Ryuji, c’mon or I’ll eat your part!”

 

“I’m coming!” He calls and the creaking sails settled, the storm drifts farther away, Captain Kidd goes silent, but somehow Ryuji can imagine him tilting his head in farewell.

 

**_~~We shall sail together in another time, Fool.~~ _ **

 

. . . .

 

**10th May, Tuesday – Raining -**

**_Evening_ **

 

Ryuji lets out a silent sigh and quietly cast a glance at Ann who is nose deep in a book, studying and he should be too, but nothing sticks and the silence is starting to grate on his nerves. He’s too used to Mom’s feet shuffling around the living room, loud, little kids playing at the park near the apartment or muffled laughter from drunken adults having a get together at the nearest diner, It’s not the nicest neighborhood or the worst, but it’s home.

 

He glances around Ann’s living room, his mind unconsciously comparing it with his own back at the apartment. It’s quieter here, cleaner and fancy looking too, but it feels less like a home and more of a hotel, there’s no sign of that homey feeling.

 

He glances down at his phone, the Phantom something site- Phan-site? opened and currently filled with shit-talk and names, it’s messed up people aren’t even thinking second thoughts about putting someone’s full name in there, but they’re desperate and want justice, he would have done the same and type every bastard he knows in a heartbeat, just thinking about them makes his blood boil.

 

He smothers the fire down, trying to bring his blood to a low simmer. The phone helps him just a little, even though it reminds him another pressing matter. “So,” Ryuji starts, lifting his eyes from the nonsense the teachers called science, his pencil poised above the paper. “What are we going to do with Mishima?”

 

Ann groans and throws her pencil at her book, the pink pencil goes skittering across and over the table, hitting Morgana on the head. Ryuji’s surprised the cat’s keeping his mouth shut for this long, he guesses he loves sushi more than his voice, that or he’s scared of Ann wrath more than he admitted. “We’ll worry about tomato boy later, we have exams to worry about!” She says.

 

“I know, but-” Ryuji scratches his head, tapping the half scribbled paper with his pencil. A groan escapes his mouth as he buries his head in his hands, “none of this is making any sense.” He lifts up his notebook to point angrily at the gibberish words, “what the what is this shit, why do they make us to memorize this nonsense  instead of just saying it’s freaking corn?”

 

Ann just gives him this _look_ and slinks down to lay on her side, completely disappearing from his view, giving up probably. “Don’t ask me, I’m not the one who invented Latin.” Something is poking his right foot and he fought the urge to kick the offending thing away, “I’m surprised you know so much about physics.”

 

He gave up half-way learning other parts in physics besides the How Quick You Can Go with This Speed at This Far, they’re too complicated and paper-bound for his tastes. Ryuji glares at the half answered questions, a small part of him desperately wants  burn all of with fireworks at summer later, but he needs those notes to pass. Mom wouldn’t be happy with low grades and even lower self-control, “not that much though,” He sighs and props his head, he shoots a glance at Ann, who at some point slump over the table with a pillow under her head.

 

He gives to the urge to give up at studying and drops the pencil to scroll through the site on his phone, a lot of names popped up since he last saw. Actually, the most of names are the same one he last saw, commented repeatedly by the same person probably. “Geez, I didn’t expect people to be this desperate.”

 

“It’s not that surprising, sadly.” Morgana hops up on the table, placing down his _ass_ on _Ryuji’s_ notebook. Ryuji needs to remind himself later to not place his face on that book, if he ever decide to pass out during science. “I’ve been keeping an eye on the news; yakuzas, hackers and all sorts of bad guys are running around the city without the police to stop them.” He curls his tail around his feet, “legally, anyway.”

 

Ryuji grits his teeth, “then what are we doing sitting around for? It’s not like we need to follow the law anyway.”

 

“We need a name remember?” Ann lifts her head slightly to fold her arms under her chin and frowns at them, “and then their distortion, if they do have a Palace.” She hums and fishes out her own phone, scrolling through something. “That bully problem still bugs me.”

 

“Oh, the one that Phantom did for us?” Ryuji rubs the back of his neck and stretches his back, it feels like he’s been sitting for hours, but the clock on the wall tells him otherwise. “The site is open for everyone to see y’know? It’s not like he could hack into our phones.”

 

Ann gives him a dirty look, “I know that, I’m just saying that Takanashi-kun’s name wasn’t even in the site, he told us directly at the diner.”

 

Morgana looks up from playing with his eraser, tail flicking slightly in the air, “Then that means?”

 

“Sonuva-” Ryuji bites his lip down because that would make him hypocritical jackass and rude and Mom wouldn’t like it if he cuss someone’s mother. He rapidly taps his phone, so the kid knows the Phantom, motherffff- “wait,” There’s a tiny part of him that really really does not want to deal with the over excited puppy, shy or not his enthusiasm can get really blinding after a while. He puts up his phone on his ear anyways and the telltale beeping noise ring continuously for probably the longest five seconds of his-

 

_“Um, Hello?”_

 

Finally! “Oi, Mishima. It’s Ryuji.”

 

 _“Sa-sakamoto-kun?”_ There’s a loud shuffling after he faintly hears Mishima talking to someone, _“Is something wrong or is this about the Phan-site? By the way, you did great on that bully problem.”_

 

“You’re goddamned right, this is about that.” He hisses. Mona and Ann are getting uncomfortably close to his face, that means their hair are getting close to his face Thanks, but he has enough of both hair and cat hair to forever taint his bag. He shoos them away and wisely put his phone on speaker while giving them a look and placing one finger in front of his lips.

 

_“About Takanashi-kun?”_

“Did you told someone else besides u _mmff_ -” Ryuji looks down at the hand covering his mouth then lifts them to Ann’s pleading eyes, silent ‘no’s comes out from her mouth in urgent whispers, Morgana stands besides her while forming an ‘x’ as best as he can in his cat-form. What the frick is their- Ohhhhh, right. They need the public to believe there’s only one group, got it. They went over this a hundred times, it’s practically drilled into his head, that’s not including his occasional slip ups.

 

Ryuji feels a bit offended, he knows he’s dense but he’s not that dense. He dips his head and shakes off the hand over his mouth, “I-I mean, is there someone else besides you working in the, uh, PR team?”

 

Morgana outright cringes at him while Ann gives him this unreadable look, the same look she gave him back at middle school when he bought that doll for Mom. “Really?” She whispers.

 

There’s a long silence at first then there’s more shuffling and distant chatter, Ryuji recognizes one voice belonged to Mishima, he never heard of the other though. _“Uh, more or less, not yet anyway. Oh, are- are you worried about being exposed?”_ He swears he could feel Mishima’s enthusiasm radiating from the phone, he gets it that it’s great to be that motivated, but _sheesh_ the kid needs to tone it down and not to mention how fast he jumps into ridiculous conclusions. _“Right, I get it. I’ll be careful, leader.”_

 

Ryuji tried to keep his face from grinning, a look at Mona tells him he failed to do it but being called leader in front of their oh-so-reliable guide is totally worth dealing with their ‘number one’ fan. “Uh, good work, kid.” Ryuji is aware Mishima can’t see him and he doesn’t need to make hand gestures but it feels like he should. “Anyways, we’re just wondering if you share our targets’ name with anyone?”

 

_“The Phan-site is open to-“_

 

“That’s not what I meant,” _sheesh_ , “I mean, you know, your ‘recommendation’?”

_“Oh, uh. No, as far as I know.”_ Mishima says and somehow Ryuji can imagines his face suddenly lights up like the freaking moon, he doesn’t even know why it’s the moon. _“Is that everything-”_

 

“Yeah, that’s everything.” And he cuts the call, dropping his head on the table with a loud thump. Ugh, “He didn’t even sounded enthusiastic but I can feel it even from all the way here.”

 

Ann only shakes her head at him and buries her head in the pillow.

 

. . . .

 

**XVIII**

**The Moon**

 

Yuuki blinks at his phone with a frown on his lips, he shrugs and pockets his phone. “What was that all about.” He’s glad he’s able to walk to the booth with no delay or rowdy kids to dogde, he finds it kinda weird to see the diner so empty today, usually the place is packed to the brim and rowdier than the school on most days, he thinks it’s probably because of the rain.

 

Kurusu-kun tilts his head at him, twirling his pencil in his hand like an expert or a magician. One side of his lips is curled upwards, parted slightly, asking if that was good news, it’s not that creepy smile from earlier during Yuuki’s little chat with Sakamoto-kun. The pencil stops abruptly, tapping against the book in a steady rhythm, Kurusu-kun mentions Yuuki was quite excited during the call.

 

Yuuki flushes and ducks his head, “Just another Phan, Kurusu-kun. Nothing to worry about.” Yuuki assures, technically not a lie but he still needs to be careful with his words, he still doesn’t know how good Kurusu-kun is at catching lies, rumors hold little truth after all. He slides onto his seat opposite of Kurusu-kun and reopens his book from where he had hastily closed it to answer the call, he should be handling Kurusu-kun’s book more gently, after he lend it to Yuuki and offered to tutor him.

 

“Thanks again for teaching this stuff,” He says, rubbing the back of his neck, “I, probably shouldn’t have agreed to meet with those girls while the exam is this close.” Yuuki ducks his head, hiding a flush he’s certain visible on his cheeks. “Man, I’m really lucky you’re around, yeah?” Probably not so lucky if half of the rumors are true.

 

Kurusu-kun nods and squints his eyes, head tilted and lips curled slightly into a small smile that radiates kindness and warmth and Yuuki finds himself questioning his previous thought of Kurusu-kun. Sure, that smile was creepy and that one-eyed look scared the crap out of Kamoshida and Yuuki included, but so far during their little study session, Kurusu-kun is anything but the devil himself. Maybe he’s just misunderstood that’s all, can’t judge a book by its cover and all that, right?

 

Yuuki shakes his head slightly, this is no time to be distracted, he needs that passing grade to please his parents now that the volleyball team is, uh, slightly under fire. He glances down at the confusing material their teacher gave them and frowns, he hasn’t had a clue to work on that part yet. Yuuki glances at the clock, there’s still time before the last of the trains depart. He turns his head at Kurusu-kun who is finishing his cup of coffee, who the heck drinks coffee at night?

 

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to ask for help, right?

 

“Um, Kurusu-kun?” Kurusu-kun lifts his head up, the glare from his sunglasses hides his eyes and blinds Yuuki for a quick moment, “I, uh, don’t get about this part. Can you-um teach me about this?”

 

Kurusu-kun blinks and smiles and Yuuki is now certain he is no devil but a kind, misunderstood person. “Sure,” Kurusu-kun says, “But please, take your time.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter did not want to write itself, I'm still not that happy how it came out but i figure it's time to let this egg see the sun(or flames if ya know what i mean)
> 
> I have a tumblr, it's http://iwritetoscream.tumblr.com/ come say hi if you want!(warning i barely post about p5 but a lot more of kh and mostly things that make me laugh)
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> We're officially going off course from the canon plot.
> 
> I'm bringing Futaba a bit early in the game and if anyone has a question, I'll be glad to answer without spoilers.
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I have a tumblr now http://iwritetoscream.tumblr.com/ if you want to say hi or deal with my bullshit


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